I asked Justin at Greaseworks about this beauty...

He didn't recall converting a purple Syncro but here's a link to the
Greaseworks web site that MAY show this van before it received the "Barney"
treatment.  

http://greaseworks.org/modules/gallery/album39

In some of the Greaseworks photos it appears to be Blue with grey primer, in
other photos it looks Silver.  It's also possible that the conversion was
done by someplace other than Greaseworks.  The van shown on the Greaseworks
site has A/C ductwork but the ductwork doesn't appear in the samba photos.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=901494

One of the samba photos shows a small section of floor area behind the
passenger seat that looks Blue to me but it could be reflecting the colors
around it?

Maybe Unca Joel will decode the VIN?

Andrew
Bainbridge Island WA

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
dylan
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 7:41 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: FS: '90 wolfsburg Syncro TDI

IIRC, a 90 or 91 Syncro base model was available in Pastle White or Flash
Silver.
The Westy Syncros of those years were available in Pastle White, Flash
Silver, Orly Blue and Bordeaux
Red.
The 90 and 90 Carat was available in Tornado Red.

Vanagon.com, search by year under the info section:

Colors available
Pastel White  Flash Silver Metallic  Orly Blue Metallic  
>Bordeaux Red Pearl Metallic  Tornado Red  
>(Not all colors available on all models.) 
>�
>�
>�
>�

________________________________
From: Jeff Lincoln <magikvw@GMAIL.COM>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Sent: Tue, January 12, 2010 9:52:04 AM
Subject: Re: FS: '90 wolfsburg Syncro TDI

This may seem crazy but bear with me because I am extremely color blind.

However, is there a possiblity that it is Orly blue and appears purple in th
pictures for one reason or another? My bus is Orly blue and I've been told
in certain lighting and such it looks purple.

Again just a theory considering that I couldn't tell you if the bus in
question is purple or not - looked Blue to me :)

--
Thanks,

Jeff
'90 Carat (Grover)
'86 (We call this one Parts)
'78 Bus (Melissa) Patty's Bus